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Crisis warning on Iraq refugees Iraq refugee summit offers help
(about 7 hours later)
The scale of the exodus of refugees fleeing violence in Iraq has prompted a "humanitarian crisis", a conference in Jordan has heard. An international conference in Jordan on the more than two million Iraqi refugees uprooted by war has pledged to help them with their difficulties.
More than two million Iraqis have left their war-ravaged homeland. But it insisted the solution to the problem lay in their return home and that the Iraqi government was directly responsible for its displaced citizens.
The UN says about 50,000 more people leave Iraq each month, mostly to Jordan and Syria which want international help to ease the burden on their services. The UN refugee agency, Unrwa, said some 50,000 more Iraqis were escaping the violence in their homeland each month.
The UN refugee agency says the mass displacement is threatening the region's stability. Most are ending up in Jordan and Syria, which want help to ease the burden.
It says the wave of displacement sparked by the war in Iraq is the biggest in the Middle East since 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the newly created Israel. Unrwa said the wave of displacement sparked by the war in Iraq was the biggest in the Middle East since 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the newly created Israel.
See map showing Iraqi migrationSee map showing Iraqi migration
"The humanitarian duty calls upon all of us to look more seriously at the size of the problem and acknowledge that there is a real humanitarian crisis," Muhammad Hajj Hamoud, secretary general of Iraq's foreign ministry, told the summit for Iraq's neighbours, as well as the UN, US and UK. A final statement at the end of the conference, which was attended by Iraq's neighbours, as well as the UN, US and UK, called on the international community to provide all possible support to the Iraqi people.
We have lost [our] house, we are lost, my daughter is lost, my son [is] lost... help this family please, Najla Abda Karim SalehIraqi refugee in Jordan It also insisted countries hosting refugees were given assistance "so that they can continue to provide an adequate level of services to Iraqi nationals", particularly in health and education.
The host countries should have the authority to regulate the entry and residence of Iraqi nationals "in line with their law and considerations", the statement added.
But the conference stopped short of addressing calls by Jordan and Syria earlier in the day for rich western nations to take in greater numbers of refugees.
The Iraqi government said it would make available a promised $25m for those straining under the load of the burgeoning numbers of refugees.
'Real humanitarian crisis'
Earlier, the secretary-general of the Iraqi foreign ministry, Muhammad Hajj Hamoud, said the refugee problem should not be underestimated.
We have lost [our] house, we are lost, my daughter is lost, my son [is] lost... help this family please Najla Abda Karim SalehIraqi refugee in Jordan
He added that efforts to stem the flow of refugees by Iraq's neighbours - who now impose tougher entry restrictions - resulted in cases of mistreatment at border crossings.He added that efforts to stem the flow of refugees by Iraq's neighbours - who now impose tougher entry restrictions - resulted in cases of mistreatment at border crossings.
The Jordanian delegate, for his part, focused on security issues, warning that background checks were needed before people were allowed to stay. One refugee in Jordan, Najla Abda Karim Saleh, fled with her son and daughter. Another daughter was killed in sectarian violence.
One refugee in Jordan, grandmother Najla Abda Karim Saleh, fled with her son and daughter. Another daughter was killed in sectarian violence. She told the BBC she wanted help from the UN to bring her four grandchildren to safety in Amman, the Jordanian capital.
She told the BBC she wanted help from the UN to bring the her four grandchildren to safety in Amman, the Jordanian capital.
"We have lost [our] house, we are lost, my daughter is lost, my son [is] lost... help this family please," she wept."We have lost [our] house, we are lost, my daughter is lost, my son [is] lost... help this family please," she wept.
Hosts over-stretched
Jordan and Syria want some assurance that the Iraqis will either eventually return to their homeland or be resettled elsewhere.
Egypt and Lebanon have also received thousands of Iraqis.
Violence forces thousands of Iraqis to flee their homes every monthViolence forces thousands of Iraqis to flee their homes every month
The UN refugee agency earlier this month doubled its annual appeal for funding to help uprooted Iraqis to $123m to boost medical care, shelter and other support. The secretary-general of the Jordanian interior ministry, Mukhaimar Abu Jamous, told the summit that western countries had "relinquished their responsibility in shouldering the Iraqi refugee burden" and urged them to resettle the largest number possible.
The Syrian ambassador to Jordan, Milad Attiya, said the international community "must be involved, especially the United States because its policy led to the plight the Iraqis are currently in and it bears responsibility".
Although the US government announced earlier in the year that it would allow 7,000 Iraqis into the US by the end of September, it has allowed in just 133 over the past nine months because of stringent security measures.
Craig Johnstone, the UN deputy high commissioner for refugees, called for international assistance, since Syria and Jordan had few resources to cope with the influx.Craig Johnstone, the UN deputy high commissioner for refugees, called for international assistance, since Syria and Jordan had few resources to cope with the influx.
"The international community, I think, has neglected the plight of the refugees from Iraq so far, but they are beginning to act," he told the BBC."The international community, I think, has neglected the plight of the refugees from Iraq so far, but they are beginning to act," he told the BBC.
In May, Jordan said hosting the Iraqis was costing the desert kingdom about $1bn a year. Unrwa says it hopes to find a permanent home for a total of 20,000 Iraqi exiles by the end of the year.
The UN says Syria hosts 1.4 million displaced Iraqis, and Jordan 750,000.
In Jordan, clinics provide free immunisation to Iraqi children, but not full health-care services.
Government schools, already stretched to the maximum, only allow a small portion of Iraqi children with residency permits to attend.
Syria provides greater services to the Iraqis, but even there the UN says that only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugee children there are able to attend school.
The UN refugee agency says it hopes to find a permanent home for a total of 20,000 Iraqi exiles by the end of the year.
Although the US administration announced earlier in the year that it would allow 7,000 Iraqis into the US by the end of September, it has allowed in just 133 over the past nine months because of stringent security measures.
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